Don’t mess with hummingbirds. Tis the season to see dozens of these aeronautical marvels zip and zing around the butterfly bushes and flowering Russian sage. Rufous hummingbirds, broad-tailed humming birds and some that move so fast only the best birders can identify them. Weighing in at about one quarter of an ounce, they are pure energy. To entice more to our home, we put up a hummingbird feeder, a simple bottle of sugar water that opens into a red plastic plate with special holes. Holy hummers! The first quart of sugar water was devoured in days. My husband has taken up the challenge to make the sugary water and keep some in stock in the refrigerator. More would have been sucked up except for the terror of the feeder, a Rufous hummingbird has decided to defend his territory and drives off all other hummingbirds. The sound of whirling hummingbirds (buzzing insect-like sound) and the tick-tick warning can be heard from dawn to dusk. Their maneuvers would make the most jaundiced birdwatcher applaud. When defending the bird feeder, the hummingbird will swoop going up almost vertical and then head straight down and level out between birds eating on our adobe wall. So far the birds on the wall have ignored the hummingbird wars, but they have had a few feathers ruffled by the close flights.
Currently almost all of our hummingbird books are checked out, but check general bird books of the West to identify your hummers. Take a walk at the Randall Davey Audubon Center on Upper Canyon Road—just make sure when you walk between the two buildings you listen before you step out, or you could have a hummingbird in your ear! Enjoy them now, it is almost time for them to migrate to warmer climates.
By PCH at Main
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